er fifteen hundred
sick men, were crowded with invalids, who dragged themselves there to
witness our incoming.

"The palace was reached soon after ten o'clock. There General Toral
introduced General Shafter and the other American generals to the alcalde,
Senor Feror, and to the chief of police, Senor Guiltillerrez, as well as
to the other municipal authorities.

"Luncheon was then served at the palace. The meal consisted mainly of rum,
wine, coffee, rice, and toasted cake. This scant fare occasioned many
apologies on the part of the Spaniards, but it spoke eloquently of their
heroic resistance. The fruit supply of the city was absolutely exhausted,
and the Spaniards had nothing to live on except rice, on which the
soldiers in the trenches of Santiago have subsisted for the last twelve
days."

Ten thousand people witnessed the ceremony of hoisting the stars and
stripes over the governor's palace in Santiago.

A finer stage setting for a dramatic episode it would be difficult to
imagine. The palace, a picturesque old dwelling in the Moorish style of
architecture, faces the Plaza de la Reina, the principal public square.
Opposite rises the imposing Catholic cathedral. On one side is a quaint,
brilliantly painted building with broad verandas, the club of San Carlos;
on the other a building of much the same description, the Cafe de la
Venus.

Across the plaza was drawn up the Ninth Infantry, headed by the Sixth
Cavalry band. In the street facing the palace stood a picked troop of the
Second Cavalry, with drawn sabres, under command of Captain Brett. Massed
on the stone flagging between the band and the line of horsemen were the
brigade commanders of General Shafter's division, with their staffs. On
the red-tiled roof of the palace stood Captain McKittrick, Lieutenant
Miles, and Lieutenant Wheeler. Immediately above them, above the
flagstaff, was the illuminated Spanish arms, and the legend, "_Vive
Alphonso XIII._"

All about, pressing against the veranda rails, crowding to windows and
doors, and lining the roofs, were the people of the town, principally
women and non-combatants.

As the chimes of the old cathedral rang out the hour of twelve, the
infantry and cavalry presented arms. Every American uncovered, and Captain
McKittrick hoisted the stars and stripes. As the brilliant folds unfurled
in the gentle breeze against the fleckless sky, the cavalry band broke
into the strains of "The Star Spangled Banner," ma